CBI Books Producers of Sanjay Dutt-starrer Lamhaa in Bank Fraud Case
The film was directed by Rahul Dholakia and had Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, and Kunal Kapoor in leading roles. Image/Twitter
The case, as mentioned in the CBI FIR of which CNN-News18 has a copy, states that IDBI Bank has filed a complaint related to fraud, misappropriation of funds, and criminal breach of trust against the directors of GS Entertainment Pvt Ltd (GSEPL)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR against the directors of GS Entertainment Pvt Ltd (GSEPL) — Jaspreet Singh Walia (alias Bunty Walia) and Guneet Singh Walia (alias Jassi Walia) — in an alleged bank fraud case.
The case, as mentioned in the CBI FIR of which CNN-News18 has a copy, states that IDBI Bank has filed a complaint related to fraud, misappropriation of funds, and criminal breach of trust against the company.
A foreign currency loan worth Rs 2.35 million and a term loan worth Rs 4.95 crore was allegedly sought by the makers of the movie Lamhaa in June 2008 under the Film Financing Scheme. The film was directed by Rahul Dholakia and had Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, and Kunal Kapoor in leading roles.
The loan was sanctioned to GSEPL on the personal guarantee of the Walias and others. However, in 2009, the release date of the film was delayed from its original schedule due to “dispute between the promoters and the exhibitors”. Eventually, the account became a non-performing asset by September 2009.
Following this, the bank reached out to PVR Pictures Pvt Ltd (PVR), and entrusted them with the responsibility of sole distribution for the release of the film worldwide. A tripartite agreement was made between GSEPL, PVR, and IDBI Bank, with a commitment from PVR to invest an amount of Rs 8 crore for meeting necessary expenditure on print and publicity and completion of the balance post-production work.
“However, PVR failed to honour its commitment as it had supposedly incurred losses of approximately Rs 83.89 lakh (total revenue collected by it was Rs 7.41 crore as against the expenses incurred by it on promotion and distribution amounting to Rs 8.25 crore),” the bank has alleged in the complaint.
Sources state that the forensic audit report found that the project’s cost was overestimated to get more bank finance and that there was a variation between the provisional and audited balance sheets.
In the FIR copy, Walia, GSEPL and others have been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections related to criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery, as well as provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Bunty and Jaspreet Walia have also produced films such as Hello Brother and Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, among others.
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